The health effects of haze may be under-estimated when using a single air pollutant concentration during haze periods to assess health risk of haze events. The haze intensity, duration, and time of occurrence should be accounted for in appropriate risk assessment of haze. Data on the effect of vitamin d-calcium co-supplementation on inflammatory biomarkers, compared to placebo or intake of calcium and vitamin D supplements alone, are conflicting. The current systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was conducted to summarize available findings on the effect of vitamin d-calcium co-supplementation on inflammatory biomarkers in adults. Online databases including PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science and Google Scholar were searched using relevant keywords up to June 2019. We included RCTs investigating the effect of vitamin d-calcium co-supplementation, compared to placebo or intake of calcium and vitamin D supplements alone, on inflammatory biomarkers. In total, 8 RCTs that enrolled 706 participants, aged ?18&nbsp;years, were included. Pooling 9 effect sizes from 8 RCTs on C-reactive protein (CRP) levels revealed a significant reducing effect of vitamin d-calcium co-supplementation on serum CRP concentrations compared to placebo intake (WMD -0.82, 95% CI -1.56, -0.07&nbsp;mg/L, P&nbsp;=&nbsp;0.03). However, this beneficial effect became non-significant when compared to the intake of calcium and vitamin D supplements alone. Also, we found that the associations of vitamin d-calcium dosages and duration of intervention with the reduction in CRP concentrations were in a non-linear fashion. Combining 5 effect sizes for IL-6 and 3 effect sizes for TNF-α, we found no significant effect of joint calcium and vitamin D supplementation on serum concentrations of IL-6 (WMD -1.45, 95% CI -5.31, 2.41&nbsp;pg/mL, P&nbsp;=&nbsp;0.46) and TNF-α (WMD -0.79, 95% CI -2.19, 0.61&nbsp;pg/mL, P&nbsp;=&nbsp;0.26). We found a beneficial effect of vitamin d-calcium co-supplementation on serum CRP concentrations. However, such a beneficial effect was not seen for IL-6 and TNF-α concentrations. Positively charged gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) hold great promises as novel nanoagents in many biomedical applications, but their controllable synthesis in a simple and efficient manner remains a challenge. In the present work, by using a commercial cationic ligand, (11-mercaptoundecyl) - N,N,N-trimethylammonium bromide (MUTAB), we demonstrated that water-soluble, positively charged AuNCs can be facilely synthesized in a one-step reaction. These MUTAB-AuNCs possess near-infrared luminescence, ultra-small size, good stability and biocompatibility as well as abundant positive charges in a wide pH range. Importantly, these positively charged MUTAB-AuNCs exhibit efficient antibacterial activity against both Gram-negative bacteria and Gram-positive bacteria without inducing drug-resistance, including multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria and clinical bacteria. The unique antibacterial mechanism of these positively charged AuNCs was also systematically investigated by different techniques, including surface plasmon resonance, scanning electron microscopy, fluorescence imaging, DNA leakage and reactive oxygen species (ROS) assays. HYPOTHESIS Droplet depositing onto hot surfaces above the so-called Leidenfrost temperature will float on a cushion of its own vapor. The vapor flow below the drop could be rectified by asymmetric surface textures, resulting the self-propelled droplet motion. Asymmetric structures like ratchets are used to rectify Leidenfrost droplet movement. Hence, it is possible to enhance the droplet mobility using surfaces with combined asymmetric macro/micro-structures. EXPERIMENTS Continuous scale-like microcraters stacked end-to-end were fabricated on steel surfaces by wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM). The crater orientation always vectored towards the machining direction (MD), which oriented the droplet motion. Further, by integrating micro and macro-ratchets, dual-scale ratchets were constructed by one-step process using WEDM. The travelling velocities of Leidenfrost droplets on dual-scale and traditional single-scale ratchets were compared and the enhanced mechanism on dual-scale ratchets was analyzed. FINDINGS One-step process was developed to fabricate transport platforms for Leidenfrost droplets, that continuous scale-like microcraters formed simultaneously on the macroratchets. The highest droplet travelling velocity was achieved compared to previous research. Further study shows that the enhanced drop mobility is attributed to the dual-scale roughness which endows a larger propelling force. This finding presents a high-efficiency method to fabricate transport platforms for Leidenfrost droplets. HYPOTHESIS The current mechanism of surfactant enhanced oil recovery (EOR) mainly relies on forming middle-phase microemulsions to get ultra-low oil-water interfacial tension. However, residual oil can also be recovered using low concentration surfactant solutions without microemulsion formation, and the interaction between the surfactant solution and crude oil at very early contact has not been studied yet. We hypothesize micelle solubilization of oil as an alternative EOR mechanism. EXPERIMENTS Sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS), anisole and 1-hexene were used as a model surfactant and model polar and nonpolar compounds in crude oil, respectively. The interaction between SDBS micelles and these two additives was investigated with dynamic light scattering, UV-Vis spectroscopy, 1H NMR spectroscopy, cryogenic transmission electron microscopy, confocal microscope and small angle neutron scattering. FINDINGS SDBS micelles become larger upon increasing additive concentration to transfer into swollen micelles. 1-Hexene is localized in the micelle core, and retains the spherical micelle shape, while anisole resides in the palisade layer and weakens the electrostatic repulsions among surfactant headgroups, inducing a sphere-rod transition. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/bpv-hopic.html No emulsion droplets were observed for 0.2 wt% SDBS solution until 1.5&nbsp;wt% anisole or 1-hexene was introduced. These findings help understanding the role surfactant micelles in EOR and propose a new mechanism for surfactant EOR processes.